The Panthers had a top three pick in the four of the past six NHL drafts, but after a franchise-best 103-point season, the powers that be had to patiently wait their turn Friday night at the First Niagara Center, home of the Buffalo Sabres.

Picking at No. 23, with newly signed defenseman Keith Yandle on the podium with him, first-year Panthers general manager Tom Rowe announced the selection of 6-foot-3, 183-pound Finnish center Henrik Borgstrom.

"He's a big, exciting and highly skilled player that has had a strong season with the HIFK Jr. team overseas in Finland,'' Rowe sadi. "He's heading to a strong program at the University of Denver that will help further his development."

Panthers president of hockey operations Dale Tallon certainly hit a home run with the last Finnish center he selected when he tabbed Aleksander Barkov at No. 2 in the 2013 draft. Barkov had a career-high 28 goals and 59 points this season, and was a runner-up for the Lady Byng award and fifth in the Frank Selka voting for best defensive forward.

"I never met [Barkov] but I heard great stories about him,'' giggled an ecstatic Borgstrom on a conference call. "He's really a hard worker and a great player. So smart that I can't really describe.''

Borgstrom, 18, who as Rowe said will play for the University of Denver next year, agreed that having two Finnish teammates in Barkov and Jussi Jokinen when he comes to prospects (and training) camp this summer will help him adjust.

"I'm really excited,'' said Borgstrom, a native of Helsinki. "It's a nice feeling. I also heard that Florida is like warm. I don't know if it's legend or something. I really like the team and this is really awesome.''

Borgstrom, who was the ninth-ranked European skater by NHL Central Scouting, scored 29 goals and 55 points in 40 games for the HIFK under-20 Finnish junior league. He's known for his competiveness and high hockey intellect.

"He's a different player with outstanding playmaking and puck-handling skills,'' said Goran Stubb, the NHL director of European scouting. "He's a crowd-pleaser with his surprising moves. He didn't play in the Finnish pro league since he was playing college next year.''

Borgstrom said he had a feeling the Panthers would select him because they interviewed him three separate times, at the Combine earlier this month, then in Finland and again this week in Buffalo.

"When I came to Buffalo they interviewed me again, like the third time,'' he said. "We talked about a lot of things, more serious yesterday. Not grilling [me] or roasting [me] but more serious. Still, at the same time, we were able to have fun, so I had a great feeling about Florida.''

He admitted he needed to get stronger physically and in the defensive zone, but the offensive zone is his strength.

Rowe paid homage to the Panthers fans who attended a draft party at the IceDen in Coral Springs before announcing Borgstrom.

The only other time the Panthers had the 23rd pick was in 2012 and that turned out to be defenseman Mike Matheson, who sparkled in the playoffs series against the Islanders after playing just three regular season games.

The draft concludes on Saturday with the second round starting at 10 a.m., and is expected to finish all seven rounds by noon.

The Panthers will have the 13th pick of the second round (33rd overall), and two more in the fourth round (94th and 114th) before their final pick in the sixth round (175th).

Earlier this week, Rowe and Tallon made it clear they would pick the best player available but offensive skill was paramount. Rowe added that they will continue to build depth in the organization.

"It's hard to score goals in this league today,'' Tallon said. "You saw it in the playoffs, you see it on a regular basis. There's not a lot of room so you need a lot of skill to be able to score goals.''

Rowe believes the Panthers have plenty of prospects to possibly fill a need at forward, such as Kyle Rau, Connor Brickley, Logan Shaw, Shayne Harper, Jayce Hawryluk and Juho Lammiko.

Before the draft the Panthers took care of three of their offseason needs by signing Yandle to help bolster last season's anemic 23rd-ranked power play. Yandle joined the Panthers' brass at the draft table.

Later Thursday the Panthers traded young forward Rocco Grimaldi to Colorado for backup goalie Reto Berra. The Panthers don't expect to re-sign backup goalie Al Montoya before he becomes a free agent on July 1st.

And a few weeks ago they traded veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson to Vancouver for young forward Jared McCann, who is expected to supply offense on the third line.

At midnight Friday the Panthers were allowed to speak to impending free agents.